revisited the 2021 conjunctions

Yesterday, I made a list of planetary conjunctions. This was derived by carefully examining the Skygazer's Almanac 2021 from the Sky & Tel people. The double triangle pointers show these events. Looked like there were about a dozen events.

To cross-check this data, I thought I use my trusty ole' SkyTools 3 Professional software. Oh my... 

This is an extract from a Current Events report but I deleted the elongations and oppositions but then inserted additional annotations.

This is a listing of "Events for Toronto" but it should work for many across Ontario and beyond. All times are "local" or for the Eastern time zone and shown as military hours. 

ST3P generates a percentage darkness value which is useful for gauging visibility (see notes below).

I left the solar conjunctions in the list. Remember there's nothing to do for this kind of event but it tells you, at the same time, that the planet in question will not be visible.

The S&T events I italicised in this list.

• Jan 9, 23:10 - Mercury and Saturn 1.6° apart, Alt=-55°, 95% Dark, Jupiter is a bit further away, higher up, so makes a triangle; should be visible after sunset *
• Jan 11, 13:35 - Mercury and Jupiter 1.4° apart, Alt=26°, 0% Dark, now Mercury is passing Jupiter so Saturn is further away, lower down; Saturn is a mere 11° from the Sun! *
• Jan 20, 13:23 - Mars and Uranus 1.6° apart, Alt=20°, 0% Dark, view after sunset, well up, visible in binoculars, first quarter Moon is close by... ***
• Jan 23, 22:02 - Saturn in Conjunction with the Sun, a good reminder that the planet is transitioning from the evening sky to the morning...
• Jan 28, 20:40 - Jupiter in Conjunction with the Sun
• Feb 6, 01:52 - Venus and Saturn 23' apart, Alt=-54°, 95% Dark, I think this will be very difficult or impossible in the bright morning sky, even though Venus is bright, partly because the planets are a mere 12° from the Sun, also they're below the ecliptic, and the ecliptic is canted!
• Feb 8, 08:48 - Mercury Inferior (solar) Conjunction
• Feb 11, 09:36 - Venus and Jupiter 26' apart, Alt=21°, 0% Dark, again, an extremely difficult event to view even though we're talking about the two brightest planets; possibly visible in the day-time although great care must be employed, particularly since the planets lead the Sun!
• Feb 12, 16:00 - Venus and Jupiter 1.4° apart, Alt=7°, 0% Dark
• Mar 5, 00:55 - Mercury and Jupiter 19' apart, Alt=-50°, 95% Dark, while the planets are below the ecliptic and the ecliptic is canted low (in spring time in the morning), they are 27° ahead of the Sun, as viewed around 6:30 AM! *
• Mar 10, 19:02 - Neptune in Conjunction with the Sun
• Mar 13, 23:08 - Venus and Neptune 22' apart, Alt=-48°, 95% Dark, sounds cool on paper but impossible to view given the Sun's proximity
• Mar 26, 02:58 - Venus Superior (solar) Conjunction
• Mar 29, 23:28 - Mercury and Neptune 1.3° apart, Alt=-50°, 79% Dark, a non-event, I'd argue, as we're talking faint planets, canted ecliptic, and both are below the plane
• Apr 17, 06:20 - Moon and Mars 1.3° apart, Alt=-21°, 25% Dark, a lovely pairing with the crescent Moon phase, view after sunset where they will be about 5 or 6° apart, should show Earthshine... ***
• Apr 17, 07:39 - Moon and Mars 58' apart, Alt=-15°, 1% Dark
• Apr 18, 21:49 - Mercury Superior (solar) Conjunction
• Apr 22, 21:10 - Venus and Uranus 14' apart, Alt=-4°, 60% Dark, this looks to be challenging to me with a bright sky at sunset, the planets are close to Sol at 7°, and Mercury below!
• Apr 24, 01:58 - Mercury and Uranus 44' apart, Alt=-31°, 81% Dark, it would be very interesting if we could turn off the Sun for a moment, a neat triangle of with Venus
• Apr 25, 13:10 - Mercury and Venus 1.2° apart, Alt=62°, 0% Dark, might be visible given the brightness of these two planets but they will be very low to the horizon *
• Apr 30, 15:53 - Uranus in Conjunction with the Sun
• May 12, 19:58 - Moon and Venus 1.1° apart, Alt=16°, 0% Dark, ooh, a razor thin Moon will be below Venus **
• May 15, sunset - Moon and Mars, additional entry manually added! a waxing crescent Moon will be attractively close to the red planet ***
• May 16, 01:51 - Moon and Mars 42' apart, Alt=-11°, 95% Dark, further away this evening **
• May 28, 23:11 - Mercury and Venus 24' apart, Alt=-9°, 94% Dark, 16° trailing the Sun, but the sky will be bright after sunset **
• Jun 10, 21:13 - Mercury Inferior (solar) Conjunction
• Jun 11, sunset - Moon and Venus, additional entry manually added! a very thin Moon will be attractively close to the bright planet ***
• Jun 12, 02:43 - Moon and Venus 38' apart, Alt=-21°, 95% Dark, further apart this evening **
• Jul 11, sunset - Moon nearing Venus and Mars, cool horizontal alignment, lovely! ***
• Jul 12, sunset - Moon leaving Venus and Mars, still lovely! Venus and Mars close! ***
• Jul 13, 09:32 - Venus and Mars 28' apart, Alt=13°, 0% Dark, the second planet is moving away now from the fourth but it is still a great view, arguably for a few days... **
• Aug 1, 10:07 - Mercury Superior (solar) Conjunction
• Aug 18, 23:19 - Mercury and Mars 4.3' apart, Alt=-23°, 82% Dark, fantastically close together, each planet, but the sky will be bright at sunset, and while the planets are over 15° from the Sun, the ecliptic is canting low now in the west, probably telescopic only **
• Aug 28, 07:21 - Moon and Uranus 1.8° apart, Alt=54°, 0% Dark, this will be an easy binocular event from early evening and past midnight **
• Sep 24, 13:52 - Moon and Uranus 1.8° apart, Alt=-26°, 1% Dark, a bit too wide for binoculars, so perhaps a test of unaided eye observing, works one night later too... *
• Oct 8, 00:02 - Mars in Conjunction with the Sun
• Oct 9, 12:18 - Mercury Inferior (solar) Conjunction
• Oct 9, 16:04 - Moon and Venus 1.9° apart, Alt=25°, 0% Dark, here's a great day-time viewing opportunity! binocular target, naked eye target, trailing the Sun by 45 degrees, I love seeing planets in a blue sky ***
• Nov 3 - Moon occults Mercury, 0% Dark, this is a neat day-time event, with such an old Moon, but there's a dangerous element to it, with the celestial bodies 15° away and ahead of the Sun—BE CAREFUL! ***
• 15:35 - First Contact, Sep=+00°16'37", Alt=20°
• 15:35 - Second Contact, Sep=+00°16'31", Alt=20°
• 16:04 - Mid-occultation, Sep=+00°10'00", Alt=16°
• 16:32 - Third Contact, Sep=+00°16'29", Alt=11°
• 16:32 - Last Contact, Sep=+00°16'34", Alt=11°
• Nov 4, 01:20 - Moon and Mars 1.7° apart, Alt=-55°, 95% Dark, not visible in Ontario
• Nov 8, 01:02 - Moon and Venus 44' apart, Alt=-57°, 95% Dark, thin Moon after sunset should be attractive, while the objects will be low, plus below the ecliptic **
• Nov 9, sunset - Moon joins Saturn then Jupiter, over three nights, a pretty scene in a dark sky ***
• Nov 10, 10:26 - Mercury and Mars 58' apart, Alt=33°, 0% Dark, a challenging morning event, actually happening over a couple of days, with the planets a short 10° ahead of the Sun
• Nov 17, 22:56 - Moon and Uranus 1.8° apart, Alt=60°, 0% Dark, woo hoo, binocular range through most of the evening ***
• Nov 28, 23:39 - Mercury Superior (solar) Conjunction
• Dec 2 - Moon occults Mars, 94% Dark, the occultation proper is not visible for humans in Toronto, but during the pre-dawn of the 2nd, the old Moon will be a short distance from the angry planet *
• 19:55 - First Contact, Sep=+00°16'29", Alt=-45°
• 19:55 - Second Contact, Sep=+00°16'25", Alt=-45°
• 20:18 - Mid-occultation, Sep=+00°02'42", Alt=-49°
• 20:40 - Third Contact, Sep=+00°16'24", Alt=-52°
• 20:40 - Last Contact, Sep=+00°16'28", Alt=-52°
• Dec 4, 06:07 - Moon and Mercury 29' apart, Alt=-18°, 80% Dark, impossible/dangerous
• Dec 15, 03:30 - Moon and Uranus 1.7° apart, Alt=8°, 0% Dark, again, a great binocular target, and have a go at unaided observing ***
• Dec 31, 16:13 - Moon and Mars 1.7° apart, Alt=-15°, 0% Dark, ooh, neat, a thin old Moon will rise into the pre-dawn sky leading Mars, visible in binoculars which yield a 5 degree or bigger field of view ***

Bear in mind these times highlight the moment of closest approach or minimum separation and at that specific time, the object(s) might be below our horizon (hence the negative altitude values). Still, leading up or just after might afford a pleasing view.

I also checked all these events in Stellarium...

So, what's the point of all this?

Part of it is to show that conjunctions, by themselves, are common. The speedy planets like Mercury and Venus, along with the Moon, make for many alignments and appulses. Over 25 interesting events!

But, clearly, the Sun's position is a factor. This cuts down from the pure, mathematical instances to a short list of viable ones we can see or image.

So I've used asterisks as the indicator of good things, my personal ranking. One asterisk (*) for a mediocre event; three stars (***) for a very neat event that you should add to your calendar.